Abigail Henson
Biographic Data
| ID | 4076596 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Abigail Henson |
| GIVEN NAMES | Abigail |
| FAMILY NAME | Henson |
| SIGNATURE | HENSON A |
| AFFILIATIONS | Arizona State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-1915-8524 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 17 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2020 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
The good, the bad, the ugly
This study explores the profound and often overlooked developmental journeys of individuals sentenced to life without parole as minors. Through in‐depth life‐history interviews with 30 formerly incarcerated people, we examine how they forged personal growth amid the cumulative trauma of long‐term confinement. Our analysis reveals developmental paths aligned with the posttraumatic growth framework, which recognizes how strength and transformation …
“Respect the Badge”
Police in the United States are most commonly directed to surveil and criminalize minoritized communities, which bolsters stereotypes of racial threat and results in disparate criminal legal outcomes for Black individuals. Hyper-surveillance has led to distrust and dissatisfaction with police in minoritized communities and inspired research exploring ways to ameliorate police-community relationships. While officers’ use of respect is found to enh…
Thicker than blood
The Montgomery vs. Louisiana ruling in 2016 on the unconstitutionality of mandatory juvenile life without the possibility of parole resulted in the resentencing of thousands of cases and the release of hundreds of individuals sentenced as youth to die in prison. Although a breadth of research has explored the consequences of long‐term confinement as it relates to the effects on health, education, employment history, and familial relationships, no…
Unpacking support
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. As a result, a growing body of critical research has sought to understand the impact of the carceral experience, not only on those currently or previously incarcerated, but also on those connected to incarcerated individuals. Much of this research identifies the barriers and difficulties loved ones of incarcerated individuals (LOIs) encounter; however, few of these st…
“I Don’t Want to Be a Statistic”
Within the context of racial caste and the “stickiness” of criminal labels, men struggle to craft positive masculine identities. Contesting racial-criminal stigma requires men of color to challenge controlling images of violent Black men. Analyzing narratives of 45 millennial men in Philadelphia, we identify redemption bids and redemptive generativity as ways of defying social stigma. Redemption, which has been highlighted in the desistance liter…
The biggest thing you can rob is somebody's time”
Over the last several decades, research has demonstrated the adverse impact incarceration has on sustaining and strengthening familial bonds. Physical and communication barriers are often noted as lead sources of strain in relationships between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. Studies have shown that the financial burden of prison can also have deleterious impacts on the family reintegration process upon release, particularly for mi…
The importance of investing in policies beyond ‘the basics
The police killings of unarmed Black men and women, particularly in the year 2020, fueled a moral outcry for defunding the police. The defund movement asserts that divested police funds should be invested in communities most devastated by hyper-policing. However, decisions on which community services to finance are often void of community input. To fill this gap, the current study highlights responses from 50 Black fathers living in southwest Phi…
Revising the Critical Gaze
An Assessment of Prisoner Reentry, Legal Financial Obligations and Family Financial Support
Scholars have found that family support is an important facilitator of successful reentry from prison to the community. At the same time, they have argued that owing court-ordered fines or fees, also called legal financial obligations (LFOs), can act as an additional barrier to reentry, especially for parents. There remains a need to test how LFOs impact the financial support formerly incarcerated parents receive from their families. The current …
What Nonresident Mothers and Fathers Have to Say About a Mother-Only Coparenting Intervention
Coparenting between mothers and nonresident fathers is a consistent predictor of positive father involvement and is shown to have a direct positive impact on children’s behavioral outcomes. While many fatherhood programs attempt to improve coparenting relationships using father-only interventions, the information on their effectiveness is mixed. Couple interventions may be more effective than father-only approaches but are very hard to achieve wi…
Meet Them Where They Are
Parenting from prison is dramatically different than parenting in the community. The removal from home and redefinition of self that occurs within the carceral setting often leads incarcerated parents to feel anxious and inadequate in their parental role. While some prison-based parenting programs (PBPPs) can assuage these issues, they often lack contextual relevance, which can make participants frustrated and dissatisfied. Using an example of a …
Desistance, persistence, resilience and resistance
While research suggests a growing proclivity amongst contemporary fathers towards emotional involvement and child caregiving, studies indicate that most men still experience unrelenting pressure to provide financially for their family. For some fathers, the ability to spend time with their children is contingent on financial provision. Fathering, therefore, can be dependent on employment. The intersection of Blackness, maleness, and a criminal re…
Desistance, persistence, resilience and resistance
While research suggests a growing proclivity amongst contemporary fathers towards emotional involvement and child caregiving, studies indicate that most men still experience unrelenting pressure to provide financially for their family. For some fathers, the ability to spend time with their children is contingent on financial provision. Fathering, therefore, can be dependent on employment. The intersection of Blackness, maleness, and a criminal re…
The biggest thing you can rob is somebody's time”
Over the last several decades, research has demonstrated the adverse impact incarceration has on sustaining and strengthening familial bonds. Physical and communication barriers are often noted as lead sources of strain in relationships between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. Studies have shown that the financial burden of prison can also have deleterious impacts on the family reintegration process upon release, particularly for mi…
Revising the Critical Gaze
Thicker than blood
The Montgomery vs. Louisiana ruling in 2016 on the unconstitutionality of mandatory juvenile life without the possibility of parole resulted in the resentencing of thousands of cases and the release of hundreds of individuals sentenced as youth to die in prison. Although a breadth of research has explored the consequences of long‐term confinement as it relates to the effects on health, education, employment history, and familial relationships, no…
The importance of investing in policies beyond ‘the basics
The police killings of unarmed Black men and women, particularly in the year 2020, fueled a moral outcry for defunding the police. The defund movement asserts that divested police funds should be invested in communities most devastated by hyper-policing. However, decisions on which community services to finance are often void of community input. To fill this gap, the current study highlights responses from 50 Black fathers living in southwest Phi…
What Nonresident Mothers and Fathers Have to Say About a Mother-Only Coparenting Intervention
Coparenting between mothers and nonresident fathers is a consistent predictor of positive father involvement and is shown to have a direct positive impact on children’s behavioral outcomes. While many fatherhood programs attempt to improve coparenting relationships using father-only interventions, the information on their effectiveness is mixed. Couple interventions may be more effective than father-only approaches but are very hard to achieve wi…
Meet Them Where They Are
Parenting from prison is dramatically different than parenting in the community. The removal from home and redefinition of self that occurs within the carceral setting often leads incarcerated parents to feel anxious and inadequate in their parental role. While some prison-based parenting programs (PBPPs) can assuage these issues, they often lack contextual relevance, which can make participants frustrated and dissatisfied. Using an example of a …
Desistance, persistence, resilience and resistance
While research suggests a growing proclivity amongst contemporary fathers towards emotional involvement and child caregiving, studies indicate that most men still experience unrelenting pressure to provide financially for their family. For some fathers, the ability to spend time with their children is contingent on financial provision. Fathering, therefore, can be dependent on employment. The intersection of Blackness, maleness, and a criminal re…
An Assessment of Prisoner Reentry, Legal Financial Obligations and Family Financial Support
Scholars have found that family support is an important facilitator of successful reentry from prison to the community. At the same time, they have argued that owing court-ordered fines or fees, also called legal financial obligations (LFOs), can act as an additional barrier to reentry, especially for parents. There remains a need to test how LFOs impact the financial support formerly incarcerated parents receive from their families. The current …
The biggest thing you can rob is somebody's time”
Over the last several decades, research has demonstrated the adverse impact incarceration has on sustaining and strengthening familial bonds. Physical and communication barriers are often noted as lead sources of strain in relationships between incarcerated individuals and their loved ones. Studies have shown that the financial burden of prison can also have deleterious impacts on the family reintegration process upon release, particularly for mi…
The importance of investing in policies beyond ‘the basics
The police killings of unarmed Black men and women, particularly in the year 2020, fueled a moral outcry for defunding the police. The defund movement asserts that divested police funds should be invested in communities most devastated by hyper-policing. However, decisions on which community services to finance are often void of community input. To fill this gap, the current study highlights responses from 50 Black fathers living in southwest Phi…
Revising the Critical Gaze
Unpacking support
The United States incarcerates more people than any other country in the world. As a result, a growing body of critical research has sought to understand the impact of the carceral experience, not only on those currently or previously incarcerated, but also on those connected to incarcerated individuals. Much of this research identifies the barriers and difficulties loved ones of incarcerated individuals (LOIs) encounter; however, few of these st…
“I Don’t Want to Be a Statistic”
Within the context of racial caste and the “stickiness” of criminal labels, men struggle to craft positive masculine identities. Contesting racial-criminal stigma requires men of color to challenge controlling images of violent Black men. Analyzing narratives of 45 millennial men in Philadelphia, we identify redemption bids and redemptive generativity as ways of defying social stigma. Redemption, which has been highlighted in the desistance liter…
“Respect the Badge”
Police in the United States are most commonly directed to surveil and criminalize minoritized communities, which bolsters stereotypes of racial threat and results in disparate criminal legal outcomes for Black individuals. Hyper-surveillance has led to distrust and dissatisfaction with police in minoritized communities and inspired research exploring ways to ameliorate police-community relationships. While officers’ use of respect is found to enh…
Thicker than blood
The Montgomery vs. Louisiana ruling in 2016 on the unconstitutionality of mandatory juvenile life without the possibility of parole resulted in the resentencing of thousands of cases and the release of hundreds of individuals sentenced as youth to die in prison. Although a breadth of research has explored the consequences of long‐term confinement as it relates to the effects on health, education, employment history, and familial relationships, no…
The good, the bad, the ugly
This study explores the profound and often overlooked developmental journeys of individuals sentenced to life without parole as minors. Through in‐depth life‐history interviews with 30 formerly incarcerated people, we examine how they forged personal growth amid the cumulative trauma of long‐term confinement. Our analysis reveals developmental paths aligned with the posttraumatic growth framework, which recognizes how strength and transformation …
Criminology (10 works) · Psychology (10 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (8 works) · Political science (7 works) · Social Psychology (7 works) · Homelessness and Social Issues (6 works) · Sociology (6 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (4 works) · Law (4 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (3 works)